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Hello Hans! The phenomenon of 're-used' or 'turned' (in German 'wiederverwendet') covers is not scarce. It can present at any period where the sender had no access to new envelopes (e.g. official Feldpost from the front during the 2 wars), but particularly in times of economic hardship (e.g. during the later rampant inflation and especially in the aftermath of WW2). They also come in different versions, e.g. re-used with overstuck labels or simply with the envelope turn back-to-front rather than inside-out. Though they are generally not scarce or valuable they have their aficionados and are worth a modest premium. They do sometimes graphically illustrate the current political or economic circumstances: I have one for instance just after the Anschluss sent first Drucksache with an Austrian stamp, then turned round and re-used Nachnahme with German stamps and cachets canvassing votes in the imminent referendum; another local cover of June 1948 sent originally with a single 16Pf stamp, then re-used with an overstuck label franked at the 10x rate using 30 of the same stamp for 48Dpf, the double-weight distant rate. Best wishes, Philip |
